Building Resilient Supply Chains Through Digitisation

As we look towards the end of 2025, supply chain and operations management is being redefined by a decisive shift from reactive resilience to proactive, ROI-driven transformation.

PwC’s Digital Trends in Operations Survey highlights this pivot, highlighting how organisations are now leveraging digital investments grounded in trust and measurable outcomes rather than crisis response.

In parallel, Capgemini’s New Generation Supply Chain report reveals how leading enterprises are scaling AI adoption, deepening risk visibility and embedding sustainability into operations to unlock speed, agility and growth.

Reinforcing these trends, the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2025 positions digitisation as the new core of resilience – urging supply chains to evolve beyond efficiency to become dynamic, transparent and future-ready systems.

PwC report summary

Since 2020, organisations have accelerated network reconfiguration to navigate policy volatility and cost inflation, PwC has found. In its 2025 Digital Trends in Operations Survey, 91% cite US trade policy as a major catalyst for reshaping supply chains. At the same time, 87% link rising geopolitical tension to the push for more flexible, adaptive operations built on technology-enabled responsiveness.

The findings make it clear that adoption curves are steepening. More than half of respondents are now deploying AI in core functions, using predictive tools to foresee and manage disruptions, even as scaling remains constrained by data and integration challenges. Despite progress, 92% admit that technology rollouts have yet to yield full value, with system integration and data quality emerging as the primary restraints.

PwC also emphasises the importance of cohesion across digital stacks, the strategic use of data as an enterprise asset and the deployment of digital twins and IoT - but only where impact is measurable. It found that outcomes are strongest in ecosystems that connect both technology, talent and metrics.

Operations are evolving toward faster, smarter and more resilient supply chains grounded in integration, trusted data and digital transformation - but can everyone keep up? 

Targets

• Significantly change supply chain strategies in response to US trade policy changes (91% of leaders). 
• Build more flexible operations to manage geopolitical risk (87%). 
• Integrate AI into operations and scale from pilots (57% already integrated).

“Your supply chain needs to be faster, smarter and more resilient than ever,” the report explains.  

Latest figures

91% will significantly change supply chain strategies due to US trade policy. 
87% say geopolitics is driving more flexible operations. 
57% have integrated AI in selected functions or organisation-wide. 
92% say tech investments haven’t fully delivered expected results. 
21% use digital twins and 97% of those find them effective. 

Progress

Leaders are moving from crisis management to true transformation, reconfiguring networks as geopolitical unrest heightens. Nearly all (91%) are planning major changes, with 87% focused on boosting flexibility.

At the same time, AI has gone mainstream - integrated by 57% of organisations, yet 92% say returns fall short due to complex integration and poor data quality.

Meanwhile, lower-adopted tools are proving their worth as digital twins - used by just 21% - are revealed to be seen as effective by 97%, while IoT adoption sits at a 33% adoption rate with 52% reporting strong results. Workforce strategies are also evolving - expanding beyond training to include incentives and professional certifications.

Focus ahead

• Simplify architecture and prioritise integration over point solutions
• Invest in data quality, access and governance as a core capability
• Scale AI for inventory, forecasting and disruption mitigation with clear ROI
• Strengthen partner ecosystems and cost visibility across the value chain
• Build a digital-ready workforce beyond training and hiring alone
• Expand scenario planning to anticipate rather than react to shocks

Capgemini report summary

Companies are moving beyond firefighting and into deliberate, end-to-end transformation, according to Capgemini.

The supply chain is now treated as a strategic system, not a collection of point fixes, as leaders consolidate fragmented tools, strengthen data foundations and use AI to improve planning, fulfilment and risk response. It finds that pilot projects are giving way to scaled programmes, with agent-based approaches starting to automate routine decisions and surface exceptions for human oversight.

Cyber, operational and geopolitical risks continue to test resilience, exposing blind spots beyond tier-1 suppliers. In response, organisations are extending visibility deeper into networks, tightening governance and building playbooks that can flex with disruption. Plus, sustainability has now shifted from a compliance topic to a performance indicator -  cutting waste, energy use and cost when embedded into day-to-day operations.

Progress is strongest where technology, talent and partners are aligned around measurable outcomes. 

Targets

• Make “new-gen supply chain” a top-three tech priority (70% already do so). 
• Scale GenAI beyond pilots, with >5 supply chain use cases (51% have achieved this). 
• Extend cyber-risk visibility beyond tier-1 suppliers (62% are still limited to tier-1).

 "Organisations must proactively prepare for disruptions, adapt swiftly to change and ensure operational continuity," the report advises. 

Latest figures

70% rank new-gen supply chain a top-three 2025 tech trend. 
72% report supply chain transformation progress, up from 54% in 2022. 
68% have a clear supply chain vision, up from 35% in 2022. 
51% have implemented more than five Gen AI use cases in the supply chain. 
76% say sustainable practices drive cost efficiencies.

Progress

Leaders are elevating new-gen supply chains as a 2025 priority.

Transformation rose from 54% to 72% since 2022 and 68% now set clear objectives. Scaling is under way: 29% report partial or full adoption and 51% run five-plus Gen AI use cases. Risk gaps persist with tier-1-limited cyber visibility, while 76% view sustainability as a route to cost efficiency.

Focus ahead

• Prioritise resilience as an ongoing strategic objective
• Build robust data foundations to enable agentic AI at scale
• Push cyber governance and monitoring across multi-tier suppliers
• Use sustainability to unlock cost and waste reductions
• Strengthen cross-functional and partner collaboration end-to-end
• Expand scenario planning to anticipate, not react, to disruption

WEF report summary

The World Economic Forum (WEF) Global Risks Report reveals that supply chains must move beyond efficiency and become digitally resilient to survive a turbulent global environment. The report outlines how trade disruption, cyber threats, climate shocks and regulatory divergence are pushing companies to overhaul traditional supply chain models.

WEF identifies a clear shift away from linear, cost-optimised supply chains towards digitised ecosystems designed to absorb continual disruption. Tariffs, subsidies, conflicting regulations and cloud access restrictions are fragmenting global operations. In this environment, digital infrastructure becomes critical. The report calls for end-to-end visibility, real-time risk sensing and zero-trust cybersecurity across all suppliers and platforms.

Despite growing awareness, fewer than 8% of leaders say they have full control over their supply chain vulnerabilities. Many are facing larger-than-expected losses, highlighting a gap between risk recognition and preparedness. The report urges investment in climate adaptation, multi-tier supplier mapping, interoperable data governance and “minilateral” trade agreements – regional or sector-specific pacts that can function when global consensus fails.

Digitisation is no longer just about speed and efficiency. According to WEF, it is now the foundation for supply chain resilience, enabling organisations to manage disruption, maintain operations and protect global trade flows.

Targets

• Significantly diversify suppliers, lanes and inventory buffers, underpinned by scenario planning and partner due diligence. 
• Harden digital trust across the chain with zero-trust cyber, algorithm integrity and shared data standards. 
• Build policy-aware operations that adapt to tariffs, subsidies and local data rules in near real time.

 "Our next decade hinges on rebuilding trust across borders, data and systems to prevent turbulence from becoming the norm," the report says. 

Latest figures

Harmful new policy interventions rose from 600 in 2017 to 3,000+ in 2022–2024. 

Two-thirds of harmful trade restrictions in the past five years were subsidies. 

About 5.5 billion people are online, expanding digital exposure and attack surfaces.

Progress

Leaders are pivoting from cost efficiency to digitally enabled resilience.

Diversification and scenario planning are moving mainstream as trade tensions and subsidies proliferate. Data and cloud restrictions are adding friction, pushing firms toward interoperable governance and zero-trust security. Misinformation and algorithm tampering now threaten operational decision-making, making trusted data a core capability for supply chain performance.

Focus ahead

• Digitise end-to-end visibility with shared data models, audit trails and partner access controls 
• Run rolling scenario planning and stress tests for trade, cyber and data-flow shocks 
• Adopt zero-trust across IT/OT, verify algorithms and secure model supply chains 
• Use “minilateral” agreements to keep critical goods and data moving 
• Localise where strategic, but design for interoperability and rapid rerouting